Generation: Dreamers
by StarKidCorner
Summary: Team StarKid are made up of love, friendship, humor and endless talent and creativity. Here is my take on their crazy, beautiful world.
1. Chapter 1 : Lady Bites

**Chapter 1: Lady Bites**

"We're gonna be late" Joey whispered under his breath as he crammed the last of his clothes into his suitcase.

"Where's my….got it." Joey looked up as Darren passed the doorway, case in hand, hoodie half on.

A car horn sounded outside and Joey checked his watch, 5am.

"That'll be the cab!" He called into the hallway. No response. Of all nights to invite the guys round for a jam session, Darren had to do it right before an early morning flight. Joey shook his head,

"Never changes" he muttered, half smiling.

The chaos that greeted Joey as he stepped into Darren's room didn't faze him, he was used to it by now. Music sheets were sprawled over a desk by the window, empty water bottles lined the windowsill. Darren was sat on his bed, earphones in, completely oblivious to Joey in the doorway.

"We need to go." Darren looked up at him, iPhone connected to his laptop, hoodie still only half on.

"Just need to transfer these songs over, we finished them last night, I'll be two minutes."

Joey sighed in mock frustration and hauled Darren's suitcase off his bed.

"I'll go load the cases, see you out there." He stopped and turned back around, "two minutes."

"Yeah…" Joey knew Darren hadn't heard him, it was an automatic response. He could have said he had discovered a new breed of elephant that could hop on one leg and would still get the same reaction.

Eight minutes later Darren climbed into the backseat of the cab next to Joey.

"Sorry man, just couldn't leave those songs behind, the guys are gonna love them." He smiled at the thought of playing his new material to his friends for the first time.

"They better, I know them all by heart already, you've played them enough this weekend." Joey's comment earned him a playful punch in the arm from Darren as the cab pulled away and headed for the airport.

"So what's the plan when we get to the airport? Are we running or chancing it and being, umm, normal" For the last word Joey used air quotes.

"Dude, it's 5:15 in the morning, no one is going to be around at this time, and those who are won't care or even know who I am, we'll be fine." Darren was almost trying to convince himself, not just Joey. The last time they travelled it took them two hours just to get through check in after a group of high school girls on Summer break, and a couple of boys Joey noted, had recognized Darren and cornered them for autographs.

"How is it they ALWAYS have a camera and a sharpie?" Joey marvelled at the memory of thirty or so pens being thrust in his direction by mildly hysterical teenagers.

"You loved it, don't lie." Darren smirked.

"I didn't love the semi permanent half moustache I gained in the crossfire." He muttered.

Darren burst out laughing as the cab pulled up, he glanced out of the window, all clear.

Joey slept the whole of the 4 hour flight to Chicago, only waking when Darren almost kicked him in the shins trying to climb over him to get their hand luggage from the over- head compartment.

"Can you reach?" Joey quipped as he unfastened his seatbelt and leaned forward to miss the swipe Darren aimed at him.

"You're funny, although I think I prefer you when you're sleeping." He retorted as he grabbed their bags and joined the queue of passengers exiting the plane. Joey was a few people behind him as they made their way through arrivals and ran to catch up.

"For a short guy you're a fast walker."

"Joey, it was funny four years ago"

"It's still funny now."

Darren checked his phone, two voicemails from his agent and one from an unknown number. He checked the last one first.

"I know where you are, I'm waiting for you," A mysterious voice whispered through the earpiece, "look for the grey car near the exit, and don't be late." The message ended there. Darren turned to Joey who gave him a 'what is it?' look.

"Walker's outside." He grinned.

"Damn you guessed it was me? But I did, like, my BEST creepy voice EVER! You've never heard that one before!" Joe Walker looked deflated as he greeted his friends in the airport car park.

"I always know when it's you Joe, you're not THAT good an actor I guess." Joe shot Darren a glare as they loaded the cases into the trunk of Walker's car.

"Funny Darren, because that seems to be the only thing you DO know these days."

"Don't." Darren wagged a finger at both his friends as they started into a quiet chant.

"Darren doesn't know, Darren doesn't know, Darren doesn't know!"

"You'll never let that go will you?" Darren climbed into the back seat of the car, Joey had called shotgun before they'd even left the airport terminal.

Joey turned round in his seat, "Never, never ever! Hey, did you bring the controllers for the Xbox?"

"Yeah, in my bag." Darren murmured as he checked his other messages.

Walker glanced at Darren in his mirror, "Did you sleep on the plane?"

"Joey did."

Walker shook his head, "So, Dylan, Meredith and Lauren are all at Brian's. Jaime had a thing uptown so she'll be over later. Joey did you get my email? I need to go over the set pieces again, I'm not sure the order's right."

"Yeah I read it last night, didn't get much sleep because princess sing-a-lot back there was jamming it up until 2am."

"I heard that."

"You were meant to. Anyway, aren't we supposed to be skyping AJ tonight?" Joey pulled out his phone and checked his calendar.

"At eight yeah, but I'm guessing it's nap time for you two before we do anything?" Walker checked his mirror but couldn't see Darren. He nudged Joey to turn around.

"Out like a baby." He whispered.

Walker glanced at Joey, "Is this a good idea? I know he wants to do it, but he's going to make himself sick if he doesn't slow down."

Joey sighed, "I know, but are YOU going to tell him he can't do it?" Walker shook his head in resignation.

"Do we wake him?" Joe asked as they pulled up outside Brian's. Joey looked back at his best friend, "Let's leave him, it'll be the first time he's slept for more than three hours for a while." Joe paused,

"Should I leave a window open?"

"He's not a dog Walker!" Joey hissed as he carefully reached over and took Darren's bag off the back seat.

"He's gonna kill us when he wakes up." Joe murmured.

"Probably, let's go."

A loud squeal erupted from the kitchen as they walked through the front door, Lauren emerged with a manic grin on her face and ran straight at Joey arms outstretched.

"I missed you!" She squeaked, hugging him tightly.

"Missed you too ferret!" Joey returned the hug and nodded a 'hello' to Dylan who had emerged from the kitchen behind Lauren. Brian and Meredith appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Where have you guys been?" Dylan asked.

"We were wrestling," Meredith explained in a matter of fact tone, "I won." She descended the stairs ahead of a slightly blushing Brian and hugged Joey.

"Wait, where's Darren?" Brian looked around doing a head count under his breath.

"Sleeping" Walker replied and raised an eyebrow.

"You got him to sleep? What did you do, drug him?" Brian laughed.

Joey smiled, "No but that's not a bad idea in future." He set the bags down in the hallway and wandered into the living room.

"Well we're not going to get much work done while he's asleep so I'm all for ordering pizza and getting the Xbox going." Brian suggested as he sat down next to Joey.

"Now THAT is a brilliant plan!" Beamed Joey who immediately reached for the nearest controller and slouched back onto the couch and was joined by Dylan who passed him a beer.

"I'll order the pizza then I guess?" Walker stuck his head round the door and waved his phone at the three of them.

"Anything with Pepperoni for me!" Brian called back, "and no olives!"

Lauren skipped into the room and sat cross legged on the floor in front of Dylan.

"I'm having chicken wings because I've recently discovered that cheese is evil and it fries my brain, true story."

Dylan chuckled, "It's not the cheese that causes the problem with your brain, trust me."

"Careful man, she bites." Warned Brian, avoiding Lauren's gaze for fear of a death glare.

A cushion flew through the air and hit him square in the face.

"Hey!" He looked up to find Lauren standing over him.

"Made you look!" She sang in a shrill voice as Meredith joined them.

"Oh, are we having 'boy time' right now? It took you guys all of about three minutes to get the Xbox out. " She laughed as she sat down next to Lauren on the floor and passed her a coke.

A few hours later the Xbox was forgotten as the group huddled in a circle on Brian's floor discussing arrangements for their upcoming show. Ideas were being passed back and forth as Jaime arrived, commenting on the 'homeless' guy in the back of Walker's car.

"How long has he been asleep?" She asked as she set her bag down and joined the circle of friends still chatting away.

"Almost four hours now." Brian replied, glancing at his watch.

"Is that a record? That's got to be a record!" Jaime gasped in mock surprise as she picked up one of the set lists lying in the centre of the circle.

"It's not a record."

The group looked up to see Darren stood in the doorway, hair tousled, eyes tired but with a glint of mischief.

"Walker, your car needs attention." He yawned as he perched on the arm of the couch and hugged his knees to his chest.

Walker hesitated, and then started for the door, shoving Darren off the arm and sending him crashing onto the couch in the process.

"What did you do?" Lauren whispered as she rose to peek through the window.

"He shouldn't have left me in his car, bad idea….really bad idea." Darren breezed as he reached for a beer and stretched out on the couch. By now the group could hear Walker cursing outside, he sounded enraged.

"I can't stand it anymore, let's go see." Joey headed for the door and the rest followed.

"Oh Darren, you didn't." Meredith gasped as Walker, and his car came into view.

"Oh I did." He smirked.

Walker's car was stationary in the middle of the road, all doors open and a security lock fitted to the steering wheel. Walker was stood by the bonnet, apologising to drivers and waving them past his stricken vehicle.

"You put a wheel lock on?" Jaime squealed in astonishment, "Oh that's just plain evil!"

"I know." Darren couldn't contain his giggles as Walker approached the group looking flustered.

"Joey I told you he wouldn't be happy we left him! I told you!" He whined as Darren quickly ducked behind Dylan and Brian.

"Don't come to me for protection, you do the crime, you do the time!" Dylan sidestepped out of Joe's way closely followed by Brian who tried to stifle his glee by faking a yawn.

"Give me the keys to the lock Darren." Walker tried to keep his voice level as Darren dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"I….I don't have them!" He replied, trying to regain his composure.

"Ok, it's very funny, I shouldn't have left you in the car, I deserved that, but come on, I'm gonna get a ticket if I don't move it!"

The group tried to hide their amusement as Walker chased Darren round the back of the house. Yells and screeches could be heard coming from the rear of the building.

"Those two, I give up." Meredith sighed just as Darren came flying round the corner almost crashing into Jaime and Dylan as he fled a now red and frustrated Walker.

"This will end in tears." Brian chimed as Walker tackled Darren to the ground and pinned him there.

"Where are the keys man? Come on!"

"Lady has them." Darren panted, a look of triumph on his face.

"Lady? You mean, oh no." Brain froze in astonishment. Lady was the pet Chihuahua of Mrs Kinburg three doors down. She was a snappy, vicious little thing that Brain and Walker had dubbed 'The Iron Lady', although Lauren preferred to refer to her as 'The Fanged Turd'. There was definitely no love lost between them and the hairy little beast.

Jaime shook her head in disbelief, "She bites! How did you get near her?"

"Well," Darren made to get up and was immediately pushed back down by Walkers foot on his chest, "maybe she figured out I had come bearing gifts. I have to say Joe, those keys make a lovely addition to her pink diamante studded collar, I'm not entirely sure she'll want to give them back." Darren winced as Walker pressed his foot down harder and shot him a glare.

"Ok, we go to Mrs Kinburg's, we ask for the keys back, and then, then I kill you." He warned as he finally let Darren up.

"How did you do all this? You were still asleep when I got here!" Jaime looked puzzled as the group made their way down the street.

Darren smiled, "I woke up about an hour before you arrived. When I realized they'd left me I was sat there thinking of a suitable revenge when Mrs Kinburg happened to pass by walking Lady. It didn't take much convincing to get her to take the keys. She thought it was quite a fun idea actually. Then all I had to do was wait for you to arrive, take the handbrake off, roll the car down the driveway and stick the wheel lock on." Dylan gave a nod of approval.

Walker stopped dead on the sidewalk and turned to Darren. "She knows? Mrs Kinburg's in on it? I thought she liked me!"

"She does, she just likes ME more." Darren laughed as they approached the Kinburg residence.

After half an hour of retelling the entire saga to a highly amused Mrs Kinburg over coffee with Walker narrowly escaping losing a finger as he retrieved the keys from a hostile and growling Lady, the friends made their way back.

"Am I forgiven?" Darren nudged Walker and gave his best puppy dog face.

"Yeah, but it's not forgotten. Sleep with one eye open tonight my friend." Joe murmured.

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Darren beamed as he dropped back to speak to Dylan.

As they arrived back at Brian's a group of familiar faces were waiting for them. Julia, Jim and the Lang brothers, Nick and Matt were sitting on Brian's drive deep in conversation. Nick rose as the group approached and waved a 'hello' to Joey and Darren. As hugs were exchanged, Walker went to move his car, this time putting the wheel lock in the trunk. He wasn't risking that happening again.

After a 2 hour skype conference with AJ going over the full set list and musical arrangements for the fast approaching show they called it a night. Darren and Joey took the guest room, with Darren propping a bag over the doorway just in case Walker, who was crashing on the couch, got any ideas in the night. As he sat on the edge of the bed holding his guitar, Joey climbed onto the top bunk.

"I can't believe Brian got bunkbeds, this is so cool." He mused, "don't stay up all night ok?"

"I won't," Darren replied,"just need to get these chords right."

"Uh huh." Joey didn't believe him for a second but he was too tired to argue. It was great to be back with the gang. He was excited for the next few days and the chance to perform with them all again.

As the lights went out around the house, the faint strumming of Darren's guitar echoed into the darkness. The world was beginning to dream,Darren smiled, but he was living his already.


	2. Chapter 2 : Wake Up Call

**Chapter 2 : Wake Up Call**

Brian stirred as he became aware of a voice singing in his ear. Blinking into the darkness and still disorientated, he groped for the switch to his bedside lamp while trying to locate the origin of the tune which was now becoming vaguely familiar. A faint glow shone above his head and he realized the noise was coming from his phone. A smile passed across his lips as he looked at the screen.

"Lauren, not again." He muttered_. 'She must have changed my alarm tone while I was playing on the Xbox with the guys'_ ,he thought as the last few bars of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 faded away. He checked the time. Five thirty.

"Oh you're dead!" He groaned as he fell back against his pillow and tried to get back to sleep.

Downstairs, Walker was already up and dressed fixing breakfast in the kitchen. He had planned to go for a run but decided against it when he checked the weather outside. It had rained all night and still didn't show any sign of stopping. His phone beeped next to him on the kitchen table and he glanced at the message, _'Are you awake?'._ He set down his bowl of cereal and made his way upstairs. Standing in the doorway of the guest room he could just make out the silhouette of Joey climbing down from the top bunk. Silently they made their way back downstairs, brewed coffee and settled on the couch.

"You're up early." Walker stated as he reached for the TV remote and began flicking through the channels.

"Yeah, I guess it's the excitement. We've got so much to do today, my head is already spinning." Joey groaned and slouched down on the couch.

"I thought Darren was sharing with you? I didn't see him just now?" Walker looked puzzled.

"He's in the bath." Joey replied.

"He's taking a bath at this time in the morning?"

"No, he muttered something last night about better acoustics and wandered off to the bathroom."

Realization crossed Walker's face and he turned his gaze in the direction of the stairs.

"He fell asleep in the bath?"

"Yup." Joey took a sip of his coffee and looked at his friend, "You aren't, um, planning anything are you?"

Walker shook his head. "No, I'm not THAT mean. Although the thought did cross my mind for a second."

Joey sat up and turned to Walker. "Look, about what AJ said last night, he's right, we can totally change the key if you're struggling with the top notes, it's not a problem."

Everyone knew Walker wasn't the strongest singer in the group but sometimes he was just too stubborn to admit he needed help with some of the songs.

"It's fine, really. I can do it, I just need a bit more time to get it right." He hated the thought of them having to change a whole arrangement just for him. He felt like he was letting the guys down sometimes. If he practised over the next few days, he could get up to scratch in time for the show. That's what he kept telling himself anyway. Changing the subject, Walker pointed at the TV.

"Have you seen the forecast? It's miserable out there."

Sensing Walker's wish to leave the topic, Joey nodded in agreement. They were discussing the day's news stories as Brian appeared in the doorway.

"Lauren Lopez is banned from this house." He flopped himself down into the armchair opposite the door and closed his eyes.

Joey sighed, "She got to your phone again didn't she?"

"Yes."

"What was it this time?"

"Dolly Parton."

"Sweet!" Joey laughed, "that girl is a legend!"

"So what's the plan?" Brain asked, stretching his feet out over the arm of the chair.

"Everyone's meeting at the studio at nine." Replied Walker, "We need to pick up AJ from the airport at eleven and at some point there's that meeting with the hire company about the smoke machine."

"That thing dries my throat out and makes my eyes water." Murmured Joey. The smoke machine made everything look so cool but he had to remember not to stand so close this time.

"I don't wanna almost choke to death on stage again, that was just awkward."

"Yeah but it gave Meredith and Lauren something to giggle at for hours." Smiled Brian.

"I'm glad my discomfort and public embarrassment served some kind of purpose for you." Joey shot back. "Heartless, you're all heartless, evil vultures." He jibed, shaking his head in disdain.

"Well you're screwed because that's never gonna change, just like Princess Powder Puff's sleeping pattern." Walker gestured in the direction of the stairs. Darren had always been like this. Even in college they would have to check he had actually gone to bed for fear of him being late for class the next day, which happened a little too often for Walker's liking. On one occasion he had lost his cool with Darren over his attendance and an almighty row had broken out. It was the first real disagreement they'd had and it was something Walker would never forget. Darren was so easy going but he had a temper and once he was pushed, there was no going back.

"So who's waking sleeping beauty? I nominate Joey!" Brain pointed at Joey with an evil grin on his face.

"Why me?" Joey protested.

"Because you live with him and he probably won't throw anything at you." Walker replied.

"Joe, you waxed his leg to wake him up! What did you expect? A hug?" Joey laughed at the memory of Darren limping after Walker, throwing everything he could get his hands on and cursing loudly as the rest of them had watched from Joey's room in hysterics.

"I'm still proud of that." Walker smiled, "The hair on his leg never grew back the same again. You can actually see the patch where it's thinner!"

"You know he still hasn't got you back for that yet." Brian warned as he rose to make coffee.

"I know and it's not going to be pretty when he does that's for sure." Walker replied.

Joey pulled himself up off the couch and stretched. Entering the kitchen he grabbed a mug off the side and poured coffee from the freshly boiled pot Brian had just made.

"At least if I get coffee in him he'll actually move." Joey muttered as he made his way upstairs.

Walking into the bathroom Joey shook his head and laughed quietly. Curled up in the bath, still fully dressed and clutching his guitar was Darren. Joey had no idea how he managed to sleep in that position, it didn't look comfortable but it was a talent his friend had always possessed. He knelt down beside the bath and shook Darren's arm.

"Time to move buddy." He whispered as Darren stirred and mumbled something incoherent. Opening his eyes, Darren looked puzzled for a second as he took in his surroundings.

"Did I, uh?" Darren rubbed his eyes and set his guitar down against the bath.

"Yeah, you slept here all night. Seriously I don't know how you do it. Here, got you a coffee."

"Thanks" Darren accepted the mug Joey offered him and sipped the coffee before climbing out of the bath. He winced at the stiffness in his legs and cursed at himself for not going to bed at a normal time for once.

"What time is it?" He asked, walking into the guest room and reaching for his case.

"It's almost six." Joey replied, grabbing Darren's hoodie off the floor and throwing it in his direction.

As Darren changed his clothes and attempted to tame his hair, Joey checked his phone.

"I have fifteen missed calls from Lauren, why do I have fifteen missed calls from Lauren?"

Darren laughed and checked his phone.

"Me too."

Joey's eyes widened.

"What? That's it, I'm changing my number! She's insane!" Joey threw his hands in the air and gave a dramatic sigh.

"One day she'll really need us and we won't answer." Darren was replying to messages on his phone when he paused and looked up at Joey.

"Are you getting dressed then? I don't want to wait for you all day."

Joey glared at him, "You fall asleep in the bath then have the nerve to whine at me about getting ready?" Darren ducked as Joey threw a pillow at his head and escaped downstairs.

"He has risen!" Brian ran and bowed at Darren's feet as he entered the kitchen. Walker laughed and joined in, grabbing Darren's hand and kissing it. Darren took a swipe at him as he ducked away.

"My lord, how may we serve you?" Walker pulled out a chair and gestured for Darren to sit.

"Very funny guys, you're hilarious." Darren smiled as his friends continued to mock him.

"How would his highness like his eggs today? Please, I insist, it's no trouble." Brian grabbed the frying pan and waved it in the air.

"Shut up! You're an asshole!" Darren laughed and reached to pour a fresh mug of coffee.

"Well we learned from you, oh master of the arts." Walker chimed as he passed the cereal.

Darren shook his head, "I think I've worked out how to bring down the key for your part Joe."

Walker looked up from his paper. This was one of the many reasons he loved him. Without even being asked, Darren had taken it upon himself to help his friend.

"That's what you were doing in the bathroom all night?" Darren nodded sheepishly.

"Thanks man, you didn't have to. Won't everyone have to change their parts too though?"

"Ah, they'll manage. It's my fault really I should have thought of this when we decided you were covering Rosenthal's parts."

"Let's just blame Rosenthal then." Brian joined them at the table and set down a huge plate of eggs and bacon.

"Food! Awesome!" Joey appeared and pulled up a chair next to Walker. Darren eyed the food but decided to stick to his cereal as Brian and Joey dug in.

"Ok, we have loads to do today." Brian spoke through a mouthful of bacon. "First stop is Target, I made a list last night of everything we need so can we just be quick in and out ok?" With those last words he looked straight at Darren.

"What?"

"No disappearing in the toys section, I mean it!" Walker warned. "Last time we were in there for an hour and most of it was spent dragging you away from the Transformers stand."

Darren muttered something about 'on sale' under his breath and stood to clear away his bowl.

By seven thirty they had piled into Walker's car and were on their way to Target. Joey, who had called shotgun again, texted Lauren on the way and arranged to meet her and Jaime there.

"Is Target ready for a Dikrats invasion?" Brian commented when he heard the girls were coming.

"They'll keep Darren in check." Replied Joey.

"Maybe, but who will keep Lauren in check?" Retorted Darren from the backseat.

"Oh shit, didn't think of that." Joey laughed.

Lauren and Jaime were waiting for the guys to arrive outside Target. The rain was pouring and as they sheltered in the doorway, Lauren munched on a bagel.

"I still don't understand how you can eat so much and stay so tiny." Jaime laughed as Lauren stuffed the last of the bagel in her mouth.

"It's a talent." Lauren's muffled reply came as she attempted to chew the last of the bagel, "also, I shit a LOT!"

Laurens' comment drew stares from passers -by and Jaime tried hard not to laugh as Lauren smiled politely back at them, occasionally whispering "It's true" to anyone who caught her eye.

"I can't go anywhere with you!" Jaime screeched as she finally gave in and burst out laughing.

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of poop Jaime! Everybody does it, even him!" Lauren pointed at a middle aged guy sat on the wall opposite them with his dog. The man looked up at Lauren and Jaime was about to apologize when Lauren called, "I meant your dog! It poops right? Like, ALL THE TIME?"

The man stared back for a few seconds then slowly got up and moved to the other side of the wall, his back turned on them.

"Nice recovery."

Lauren sighed, "They never want to talk to me and I don't get why."

Jaime shook her head, "Maybe because you yell 'poop' at people, just a thought." There was a pause and the two girls made eye contact briefly before dissolving into a fit of giggles just as Walker's car pulled up. Joey walked towards them shaking his head,

"Oh god, it's started."

"Don't blame me! It's HER!" Jaime gasped and pointed at a doubled over, screeching Lauren as she tried to calm herself.

Brian came up behind Joey to observe the spectacle before them.

"Good morning Lauren, or should I say Evil Demon Child of Chicago. Thank You for the wake up call."

Lauren looked up a Brian with tears in her eyes, "Poop!" she gasped as a fresh wave of giggles took over. Darren and Walker approached and Lauren managed to control her breathing enough to stand up straight.

"What just happened here? Do we even want to know?" Darren's eyes narrowed as he looked from Jaime to Lauren.

"It's probably best if you don't know." Jaime smirked as the group made their way into the store. "Oh no." Darren sighed as a familiar chant erupted behind him, he turned to see Joey, Brian and Walker performing an odd tribal dance in a circle while whispering,

"Darren doesn't know! Darren doesn't know! Darren doesn't know!" Joey glanced at Darren and grabbed Walker as Darren launched himself at them.

"Run for it!" The three friends bolted in different directions howling as Darren let out a roar and all four disappeared.

Jamie shook her head, "Boys."

"And you say you can't take ME anywhere." Lauren muttered as they ambled through the aisles. Suddenly there was a loud crash, followed by a cry. Lauren shot a look at Jaime.

"Oh god." They headed off in the direction they'd heard the crash.

"If one of them is hurt I'm gonna kill them!" Jaime exclaimed as they rounded a corner to see a small crowd gathering. Pushing through to the front of the by standers Lauren stared in disbelief. Lying on the floor were Walker and Joey surrounded by what seemed like hundereds of DVD's strewn in a mess around them.

"Oh shit." Joey groaned as he pulled himself off the floor, dragging Walker with him,"we're in so much trouble." As he finished his sentence two security guards approached. Walker held up his hands apologetically,

"Look guys, it was an accident, we'll pay for any damage."

"What the hell!"

The four friends turned to see the store manager, red faced, glaring at them. He pointed at Lauren and Walker.

"Aren't you the ones I kicked out about a month ago?"

"He remembered that?" Walker whispered. "Shut up!" Lauren growled back.

"You realize you're barred, permanently. Get out." As they were escorted from the building by security, Jaime looked around, no sign of Brian or Darren.

"Where are they?" She mumbled to Joey.

"No idea, but if they're smart, they've left already." He replied.

Back at Walker's car, Joey checked his phone. He had a message from Brain.

'_Took Darren out the back way, you better not get arrested. Meet us in Hal's if you get away.'_

'Thanks for the vote of confidence' he thought.

"They're in the diner." Joey called as he set off across the street.

Waiting for them in the Diner across the road, Darren and Brian were tense.

"We shouldn't have left them." Darren sighed as he twiddled a napkin between his fingers.

"I had to get you out." Brian answered, "if that escalated and people figured out who you were…."

Darren nodded,he knew the game by now. Hardly anything he did anymore was a secret. Brian had done the right thing, the last thing they needed was a leaked story of how 'Darren Criss and friends destroyed a shop display'.

"Hey, they're here." Brain nudged Darren as the group entered the Diner.

"So, what happened?" Darren looked at his friends who stood there in silence, their faces stony.

"Dude…" Joey trailed off. Walker shook his head and stared at the floor.

"What? How bad is it?" Brian was getting anxious.

Suddenly Lauren let out a huge squeal, "We got barred! FOREVER!"

The group burst out laughing as they piled into a booth by the window. As Joey recounted what happened to Lauren and Jaime, Brian pulled Walker and Darren aside.

"Look, that was close. We still need to get this stuff, so I think me and Darren should go in quickly and grab everything. I don't think they saw us so it shouldn't be a problem."

Walker nodded, "We'll wait here. Hurry up though guys, we have to be at the studio in twenty minutes."

Walker re- joined the group in the booth as Brian and Darren headed out.

"Why is nothing ever simple with us?" Brian moaned as they crossed the street.

"You're seriously asking that question?" Darren smiled.

As they entered the store for a second time, Darren's phone beeped.

"That's probably Lauren asking us to get food." Said Brian as he went to get a cart.

"No, it's AJ. His flight's cancelled." Darren frowned, "he can't make it until tomorrow."

"What? But we need to get started today! We only have two days and Walker still hasn't got his harmonies down." Brian covered his face with his hands and grunted.

"We'll just have to figure it out until he gets here. I can work on most of the stuff tonight, don't worry, we'll get there." Darren tried to reassure him.

The show was in two days and they had no AJ. It wasn't the end of the world but it made things a lot harder, he knew that.

"Are you sure you're up for this? It's a lot of work man and your schedule right now…" Brian eyed him closely, "I don't want you burned out doing this," He paused, "because you're shit when you're tired!"

Darren laughed and pushed his friend as he threw their shopping into the cart Brian was pushing. "I'll be fine! I've done a LOT more than this with a much less sleep before, or have you forgotten Ann Arbor?" He grinned.

"Ahh yes, the days of sleepless nights, wordless days and unfinished songs….."

"I finished them! Eventually…." Darren smiled at the memory of the chaos of their early days together. None of them had really had a clue what they were doing, 'not much has changed' , he thought, heading for the checkout.

"We work best when we're up against the clock anyway." Darren commented as they made their way back to the Diner.

"Yeah we do." Brian nodded.

Entering the Diner, Darren noticed his friends were strangely quiet. Walker stood to meet them.

"We have a problem."

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3 : Wish Upon A StarKid

**Chapter 3 : Wish Upon A StarKid**

Dylan and Meredith had arrived at the studio early. As Meredith hung their coats over a radiator to dry, Dylan sat watching the rain beat down outside.

"It's really coming down hard now." He called as Meredith went to turn up the heating. Returning and settling down on the floor, she nodded as she unloaded her bag.

"Do you want to go over some of these songs while we wait for the rest of them?" She asked, waving a CD in the air.

"Yeah why not." Dylan walked over to the CD player and caught the CD Meredith threw over.

As the intro for 'The way I do' filled the room, Meredith turned to Dylan.

"I'm going to show Darren some of the new songs I wrote. Maybe we can figure out an arrangement in time for the show."

"Sounds like a good idea. It'd be nice to get some new songs out there, see how the crowds react."

Meredith smiled, it was always so exciting knowing they had new material to show the fans. She loved this part, after the secret rehearsals and twitter silence, she was able to share her excitement with all of them.

"I can't wait for this show to start. " Meredith whispered as Dylan launched into the first verse.

They were halfway through the song when the door opened and in walked Joey, closely followed by Lauren and Jaime.

"Hey guys!" Meredith waved, but her friends didn't wave back. In fact, she noticed, they weren't even speaking, or smiling.

"What's going on?" Dylan asked as Joey walked straight into a corner and started banging his head against the wall.

"We're pretty much screwed." Lauren sighed as she perched on the windowsill and stared at the floor.

"Why? What happened?" Meredith was beginning to worry, it had to be something bad if even Lauren couldn't crack a smile.

Brian and Walker appeared in the doorway deep in conversation. Seeing Meredith and Dylan's confused expressions, Brian walked over to explain.

"The rain over the last few days has caused some localized flooding. Julia got a call this morning from the theatre. Their basement flooded last night which caused a power outage. They're in the dark for the foreseeable future."

"Totally screwed." Joey muttered, still banging his head against the wall.

"So, we don't have a venue? What about all the tickets, and the merch?" Meredith couldn't believe this was happening.

"Look, we might be able to fix this. Darren and Julia are working on finding another venue right now," Walker replied, "let's just not panic until we know what's going on."

Jaime, who was stretched out on the floor gave a nod in agreement.

"Darren has LOADS of contacts, I'm sure he'll find something." She said as Joey finally came to join the rest of the gang.

"Ok, so what do we do now?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking around the room.

"We carry on," Brain shrugged "we have to rehearse as if nothing has changed."

"Wait, what about AJ? Aren't you meant to be picking him up soon?" Dylan looked at Walker who hesitated.

"That's the second part of today's news" He replied, "AJ's flight got cancelled and he can't make it until tomorrow."

"So, we have no venue and no AJ. Great! Let's get started then!" Lauren jumped up and walked over to the CD player. She looked back at her friends and smiled. "Oh come on guys, Brian's right, we can't just sit and mope about all day, we have to believe it'll work out. Anyway, it's hardly a StarKid production if something doesn't go wrong."

Jaime laughed, she had a point. Not one of their shows had ever got off to a smooth start.

"Now someone take a picture of my face and tweet it damnit!" Lauren yelled as the music started and the others started to warm up and chat amongst themselves. They spent the next three hours going over the set list, perfecting harmonies and figuring out the dance routines. Periodically Brian checked his phone, but no word from Darren or Julia. They took a break and huddled in a circle on the floor, Lauren choosing to lie directly on top of a breathless Joey and laughing when he couldn't even find the strength to push her off.

"Oh my god, you need a cage!" He gasped as she squirmed over him and whispered in Jaime's ear. A mischievous grin stretched across Jaime's face who nodded at Lauren.

"Hey Joey, I forgot to give you something earlier." Lauren breezed as she rolled off him and kneeled at his side.

"This doesn't sound good." Joey groaned, narrowing his eyes and watching them both closely.

"Oh no Joey, it's a nice gift. I think you're going to love it!" Jaime giggled.

"Well I…."

"NOW!" Lauren screeched as they both suddenly pounced on Joey, pinning him to the floor.

"What? No! Don't you dare!" He yelled, realizing what was coming.

"Too late! TICKLE ATTACK!" Lauren squealed as she dug her fingers into his side.

While the group watched Joey struggle with Lauren and Jaime, Brian took the opportunity to slip off and call Darren for an update.

"Any luck?" He asked when Darren answered.

"Not yet, but I've got a pal downtown who might be able to help us. I'm just waiting for him to call back. Look, this might cost a bit extra though."

Brian had already thought of that, they had a good deal going with the local theatre. There was no way they would find another venue at such short notice that cheap.

"I've already texted Nick, I've got him running the numbers now. We should have an answer pretty soon." There was a pause before Darren spoke again.

"Listen, if you need me to put up the money I can do that."

Brian sighed, the last thing he wanted was to take Darren's money.

"No, it's so great for you to offer buddy, but everything goes through the books. If we can't afford it then we just can't do it. I don't want you to feel you have to bail us out all the time."

"We'll talk about it later, I've gotta go, Julia's calling me on the other line." The line went dead.

Brian re-joined the guys in the studio and relayed the information Darren had just given him.

"So, we might be ok?" Dylan asked. Brian nodded.

" See, I knew he'd pull through!" Joey exclaimed.

"Joey, you were banging your head against the wall in despair three hours ago!" Walker replied.

"True, but that doesn't mean I didn't believe things would work out." Joey countered defensively.

"Wow, if that's how you behave when you're optimistic. I'd hate to see what happens when you're depressed!" Lauren laughed.

"He jumps out of the window" Dylan replied.

"Lucky thing we're on the ground floor then." Meredith smiled.

Brian's phone rang, it was Darren.

"Fingers crossed." He whispered as he answered the call.

The group stood in silence watching Brian as he muttered into the handset. Lauren glanced at Joey who raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Finally Brian hung up the phone.

"We're ok." He smiled.

Relief washed over them as Brian explained the situation.

"It's gonna cost us an extra $300 for the week but Darren's covered it. I'll get Nick to square it with him later though."

Jaime caught Brian's eye, "So we'll need to change the tickets and tell all the fans about the new venue."

Brian nodded, "Julia already called Corey, they're on it." He replied.

"Great! Well now that's sorted how about lunch?" Joey piped up, "All this worrying has made me hungry!"

Dylan shook his head, "You're always hungry. Between you and Lauren I'm amazed wholefoods has any stock left!"

"I resent that comment!" Lauren squared up to Dylan, hands on hips.

"Really? Ok, tell everyone what you ate yesterday." Dylan smiled.

"Nothing! Well, I had a bagel for breakfast, and then there was that hotdog from the vendor in the park." Lauren paused, "um, then I had a bit of chicken, a bowl of pasta when I got home…"

"It was a whole chicken I might add, go on." Dylan nudged her as the others started to giggle.

"Ok! So I had half a pizza and some fries and that's it!" Lauren stared at the floor.

"I think you forgot the ice cream, and the two cereal bars, oh, and the waffles." Dylan shook his head as the friends collapsed into fits of laughter and Lauren pretended to storm off.

"Can you fit through the door?" Walker called after her.

"I think we might need to get a crane and lower her out through the window!" Brian quipped as Lauren returned looking sheepish.

"Ok, let's go check out the new venue, we might need to change a few things." Brain warned as the group headed for the door.


	4. Chapter 4 : The Key

**Chapter 4: The Key**

Darren hung up the phone from Brian and sighed in relief.

"Disaster Averted." He muttered into the emptiness of Brian's' kitchen. After receiving the news about the flooding from Joe, Darren had gotten straight on the phone to Julia and between them, they split the city in two. Julia took the north and east, Darren the west and south. Getting hold of a venue at such short notice seemed impossible and it had purely been out of luck and a little charm that they had got one at all.

'I owe so many favours now.' He thought as he picked up his jacket and made for the front door, dialling for a cab on the way.

"This is AMAZING!" Joey exclaimed as the group entered the theatre. Walking down the aisles they took in the majesty of the old building, blue velvet lined seating stretched out before them toward a vast stage framed by huge crimson curtains.

"Oh look!" Lauren called to the others and pointed toward the ceiling where a beautiful mosaic of angels shone down in a wash of gold and cream.

"How did he pull this off?" Jaime gestured around the open space and turned to beaming Brian.

"I don't know, I really don't." He whispered.

"As wonderful as this is, we need to get our stuff in here and start figuring things out." Walker called from the stage.

"Julia and Corey should be here by now, I'll go check outside. " Brian set down his bag and headed for the exit.

"I'll come, you'll need a hand unloading the kit." Dylan replied and jogged after Brian.

"Me too, I guess one of us has to carry the heavy stuff." Walker joked as he followed the guys out.

"Meredith! Jaime! Get up here!" The girls turned to see Joey stood centre stage looking up into the balcony. They joined Joey, passing a wide eyed Lauren who was still staring open mouthed around the theatre.

"Wow, this is big." Meredith gasped as they took in the scope of the venue. The three friends jumped as they heard a sudden crack and a voice boomed in their ears.

"Fee Fi Fo Fum! I smell the blood of some dirty Dikrats!"

"Oh my god Lauren don't do that!" Jaime exclaimed as Lauren appeared at the side of the stage, mic in hand, giggling at her friends.

"You guys should have seen your FACES!" She screeched, ducking behind the curtains as Joey made a leap to grab her.

"Come on, let's go explore!" She called back at them as she disappeared into the darkness. Joey and Meredith followed, pausing to look back at Jaime,

"You go, I'll wait for the guys." She waved at them to keep going and sat on the edge of the stage, legs swinging out over the orchestra pit below.

"This is great." She whispered, imagining the empty seats before her being filled with people waving and dancing and smiling up at her. She looked up as the doors at the back of the theatre opened and Dylan, Walker, Brian, Julia and Corey appeared. She watched in amusement as Julia's face mirrored what her own had been just minutes earlier.

"This is, oh wow." Julia laughed as she walked down toward the stage.

"Isn't it?" Brian called after her.

They were sitting on the stage discussing their next steps when Darren arrived. Running up to the stage he clapped his hands in excitement as his friends greeted him.

"Dude, how did you even get this?" Walker shook his head in wonder as Darren started to explain.

"Well, this place has been closed for years, I honestly thought they were going to pull it down last year, but some development company came along just before Christmas and bought the site. They've been restoring it for the past six months and as you can see, they've only just finished. It's not even meant to be opening until September, but I pulled a few strings and here we are!"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Usually he hated using his name to get anything, but this was different, this was something that meant a lot to all of them.

"I knew that show would be good for something!" Brian teased as the others laughed.

"Where's Joey? And Lauren?" Julia suddenly became aware that she hadn't seen then since they had arrived.

"Meredith too." Walker added.

"Oh, they went exploring. Lauren's idea." Jaime gave a knowing nod.

"Well as long as they're careful, Phil warned me there may still be some construction equipment left lying around." Darren warned.

"Great, we'll have our own little version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre on our hands if they get anywhere near that stuff." Corey muttered.

"Ok well, I think me and Dylan will get on with unloading the gear from the van while you guys check this place out and see what we're working with." Walker gestured to Dylan and they set off toward the back of the theatre.

Julia, Jaime and Corey went to check out the sound and lighting equipment, leaving Brian and Darren on the stage.

"Shall we dance?" Darren bowed.

"Shut up, let's check this place out, and hopefully find the three stooges before they break anything." Brian replied.

"We have insurance right?" Darren smirked.

"Don't even joke man." Brian shoved him as they made their way backstage. Huge ropes hung from rigs suspended high in the darkness above them. A sign on a far wall directed them to a flight of stairs that ascended to the changing rooms and beyond. Brian pointed over, signalling for them to take a look. Passing a door on the way Darren stopped.

"Where does this go?" He called to Brain who turned to see what Darren was looking at.

"I think that's the basement." He replied.

A smile crept across Darren's face.

"No, no way." Brian warned as Darren reached and turned the key in the lock.

"Oh come on! There's got to be tons of cool stuff down there! We might even find something for the show." Darren grinned as he pulled on the handle. The door creaked and slowly swung open, revealing a steep stairway down into the blackness below.

"Is there a light switch?" Brian felt around the inside of the wall but found nothing.

"Maybe it's down there, looks like we're going in blind." Darren gingerly stepped down into the shadows with Brian following closely behind. Neither of them noticed the figure that had appeared from behind the curtains, hidden by the shadows.

As they descended, the air got cooler and a stale, damp smell invaded their nostrils.

"I guess they didn't renovate this bit." Brian muttered, sliding his hand along the cold stone to keep his balance.

Reaching the foot of the steps, Darren groped around in the darkness and finally located a light switch. Blinking as their eyes adjusted, they made out the outlines of old scenery, painted trees and props scattered around them in an organized chaos.

"Look at all this!" Darren exclaimed as he pushed through the swathes of material strewn across the floor.

"Is that a bear?" Brian pointed to a huge bulk in a far corner.

"Oh shit, it is!" Darren laughed and stepped closer, "what the hell would you use a bear for?"

"An adult version of Winnie the Pooh?" Brian chuckled as he explored amongst the clutter.

"Wait, what's that?" Darren paused and turned to Brian.

"Look man, don't even try it." Brian turned away, refusing to fall for Darren's obvious attempt at a wind up.

"No really listen! What is that?" Brian saw the look on Darren's face and saw he wasn't joking, he stopped to listen. A faint creaking sound became audible as realization washed over both their faces.

"THE DOOR!"

They ran for the stairs, bolting two steps at a time, scrambling to make it to the top before the door closed. Darren got there first but it was too late, the door had already slammed shut. He tried the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh tell me you can open it." Brian groaned as Darren pushed against the frame.

"Wait, listen." They froze as a faint laugh echoed on the other side of the door.

"WALKER!" Darren yelled.

"Hey!" Walker's voice became louder, "you took my keys, now I've got yours!"

"Not funny dude, open up!" Brian called.

"Nah, I think I'll let you stew in there for a while. Oh but hey, have fun exploring guys!"

They heard Walker's footsteps fade away until complete silence filled the air.

"He'll be back in a minute, just let him get over his little triumph." Darren leaned against the door and folded his arms.

Brian sat down on the step below Darren and stretched his legs out.

"This is your fault, I did warn you." Brian shook his head and sighed.

"We're competitive, what can I say?" Darren smirked.

"You're jackasses." Brian shot back.

Walker laughed to himself as he made his way outside to the van. Dylan was already unloading the equipment and looked up as Joe approached.

"What are you so happy about?" Dylan asked, seeing his friend's smirk.

"Oh nothing, just really happy we got this sorted." Walker lied. "Right, I'll get the amps, you grab the wires."

"Gotcha." Dylan pushed one of the amps toward Walker.

"Wow, did these get heavier since last year?" Walker strained as his arms took the weight of the bulk.

"No, you just got older!" Dylan quipped. "You got it?"

"Yeah, can't see a damn thing though." Walker murmured as he made his way across the sidewalk.

Dylan was getting the last of the wires when he heard the screech of tyres coming from down the street. He looked up to see a car speeding toward them, swerving erratically as it drew closer. His heart jumped. He looked over at Walker who had just stepped out onto the road, oblivious to the vehicle heading straight for him.

"JOE!" Dylan yelled, but it was too late.

All Dylan could do was watch helplessly as Joe was flung into the air by the force of the impact, landing with a thud just meters from his feet. Dylan ran, heart pumping, mind racing as the car sped off down the street.

"Oh please god, don't be dead,please,please,please."

He came to a stop beside Joe and knelt down over his unconsious friend. He placed his hand on Joe's chest,

"Ok, ok,he's breathing." Dylan muttered to himself as he reached for his phone and looked around.

"Somebody help me here!" A small crowd had started to gather but no one stepped forward. Dylan dialled 911, watching Joe closely as the operator crackled on the line. Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see a shocked and pale Joey standing beside him.

"Is he…..?" He whispered, barely able to process the scene before him. Dylan shook his head and continued speaking to the operator. Joey spun round and gestured to Lauren and Meredith to come over, they had been too scared to come any closer, fearing the worst.

"We saw the whole thing from the fire escape, I can't believe they didn't stop, oh Joe." Lauren sobbed as she reached down and held his hand in hers.

"Stay with us Joe, it's ok, you'll be ok." She squeezed his hand tighter, hoping it would somehow keep him with them, that he would know they were there.

Dylan hung up the phone and reached out a shaking hand to Meredith.

"The ambulance is on it's way, but we need to keep pressure on his wounds, try to stop him losing any more blood."

"Blood?" Meredith muttered, she hadn't even noticed the tear in Joe's jeans or the pool of blood now forming under his leg.

Joey took off his jacket, "Here, use this." He passed it to Meredith, who gingerly wrapped it around Joe's left thigh, knotting it tightly just above the deep cut now visible through the hole in his jeans.

They could hear the faint cry of sirens in the distance.

"They need to come faster, WHY AREN'T THEY COMING FASTER?" Lauren cried as Meredith leaned over to hold her.

"Joey, go get the others." Dylan turned to him, "I'll go with him in the ambulance, you take Lauren with you. She can't be there if something….." he trailed off, unable to even talk about what might happen.

"Nothing will happen," Joey replied, "He's going to be fine." He turned and ran back to the theatre to fetch the others.

Corey, Jaime and Julia came bolting out of the theatre followed by Joey. The ambulance had arrived and the crew were loading Joe onto a stretcher as they approached.

"What the hell happened?" Julia gasped as she caught sight of Joe and the blood on the floor.

"Hit and run, just came out of nowhere." Dylan answered, his voice still shaky.

"Oh my god, Dylan, you need to go with them, you're in shock." Jaime reached over to him and held his hand.

"I'm fine, I'll ride with Joe, you guys follow us in the van ok?"

"Wait, where's Brian and Darren?" Corey looked around, unable to see the guys.

"I don't know, maybe they went to that meeting about the smoke machine?" Joey shrugged.

"We'll call them on the way, there's not much we can do right now." Julia ushered everyone toward the van as Dylan climbed into the ambulance with Joe.

As Corey drove them to the hospital, Joey tried calling Brian's cell.

"It's going straight to voicemail." He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Then try Darren, one of them has to pick up." Meredith reasoned, squeezing Joey's arm, trying to reassure him. Joey dialled Darren's number.

"No, same." He passed the phone to Meredith, "maybe you should try, I don't think I'd be any good telling them anyway. "

"Look, I'll leave a message for them, I'll just tell them to come over to the hospital, they don't need to know what's happened until they get there."

"Good idea," Julia nodded, "the last thing we need is Darren going into meltdown before we even know how bad this is." She immediately regretted using those words as a fresh wail came from Lauren, huddled against Meredith.

"This isn't happening, this can't be happening." Joey stared at his hands, "how the hell did this happen?"

"We just need to stay calm until we know what's going on, Joe needs us right now, we can't fall apart." Julia soothed as Joey wiped away the tears in his eyes.

"We should call his family, they need to know." Jaime looked back at them from the front seat.

No one wanted to make that call and silence fell as they approached the hospital.

"Let's just get in there first." Meredith said as they climbed out of the van and headed for the entrance, "we should at least be able to tell them something when we call. Right now, we know nothing."

The others nodded in agreement and the group made their way to the front desk.

"It's been at least an hour." Brian sighed, looking over at Darren who was messing with some boxes in the corner of the basement.

"They're probably all in on it by now, you know Walker, can't keep his mouth shut." Darren smirked.

"Well it's not funny anymore, we've got loads to do, we can't be wasting our time down here. I'm going to see if they can hear us." Brian made his way back up the steps and banged on the door.

"Hey! Anybody out there? " There was no answer. He banged harder, "guys come on! Game over!"

Still nothing.

"Did you try calling Joey?" Darren called. Brian took out his phone, no signal and his battery was almost dead.

"Damnit it!" He muttered, going back down to Darren.

"No signal, what about you?"

Darren checked his phone, "No, nothing."

"Great, so we're stuck here until somebody gets bored and lets us out." Brian leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

"You think maybe they forgot about us?" Darren paused and looked over at Brian. "there was that meeting we were meant to be at. Maybe they went there."

Brian shook his head, "No, there's no way they'd just leave us in here." The words coming from his mouth didn't sound as convincing as he'd have liked. Doubt started to creep into his head.

"They wouldn't…."

"I think they have." Darren shrugged, "they'll be back soon, then we can get our revenge on Walker."

"I'm gonna kill him." Brian grinned, "he messed with the wrong guy."

"Oh we'll get him alright." Darren smiled, "I always win, this time he's bitten off more than he can chew. He has no idea what I'm capable of." There was a glint of mischief in Darren's eye.

"Remind me never to get on the wrong side of you." Brian laughed.

"Hey, look what I found!" Darren held up an old looking mahogany box, "It's a chess set, fancy a game?" He smiled over at Brian.

"Why not, it's not like we've got anything better to do."


	5. Chapter 5 : Turning Point

**Chapter 5 : Turning Point**

In the relative's room, the friends sat in silence, waiting to hear any news from the Doctors who had disappeared into the emergency room with Joe.

"It's been fifteen minutes, surely they can tell us something by now." Joey ran a hand through his hair and slouched down in his chair.

"What are they doing in there?" Lauren sighed as she stood and walked over to the window.

"I'm going for coffee, anyone else?" Dylan looked around at his friends. Jaime and Julia shook their heads. Joey didn't respond, he was staring straight ahead, lost in thought.

"Yeah, I'll come with you, I can't sit here waiting like this, and these walls feel like they're closing in on me." Meredith rose and accompanied Dylan to the drinks machine down the hall. Out of earshot of the others, Dylan turned to her,

"What if, you know, what do we do then? " His face was pale and Meredith noticed his hands were shaking.

"We just can't think like that right now, it won't do us any good." She fumbled for change in her pocket as Dylan checked his phone.

"Still nothing from Brian or Darren, where are they?" Dylan cursed under his breath as Meredith passed him two cups of coffee.

"I don't know, but we'll hear from Corey any minute, I'm sure he met them back at the theatre. They'll be here." She gave Dylan a reassuring nudge as they made their way back to the others.

Pulling up outside the theatre Corey took a moment to steady himself and clear his head. In all the commotion they had forgotten their belongings and left the theatre without locking up. As he climbed out of the van he felt a shudder wash over him as he came to face the spot where Joe had been hit. There was police tape everywhere and a sign by the road appealing for witnesses to a 'serious incident'. He turned away and walked towards the entrance to the theatre, checking around for any sign of Brian or Darren. Inside, he picked up the bags in the stalls and on the stage.

"Where are you guys?" He muttered, pulling out his phone and dialling Brian's number. It went straight to voicemail. Corey sighed and set off back outside, locking up the theatre on his way. Back in the van a thought came to him and he pulled out his phone and started tapping in numbers on the screen.

A woman answered, "Good afternoon, Shard Entertainment, how may I help you?"

Corey cleared his throat, "Hi, its Corey Lubowich calling from StarKid, we had a meeting scheduled with Andy to discuss the stage effects for the show. This might sound silly, but did anyone turn up?"

"I'll just check that for you, hold please." The line went silent as Corey waited anxiously, a faint click echoed down the line and the woman returned.

"No, I'm sorry, that meeting was cancelled, nobody showed up,"

Corey frowned, "Ok thank you." This didn't make sense, if they didn't go to the meeting, then where were they? He turned the key in the ignition and set off for the hospital, maybe the guys had already heard about Joe and headed straight over.

"Yeah, they'll be there." He whispered. Still, he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

Back at the hospital, the guys were still waiting to hear any news from the doctors. Jaime was pacing the room, ignoring Julia's pleas to sit down. Lauren and Joey were sat by the window staring out at the world outside in silence.

"Guys." Dylan stood as the door opened and a young man in green scrubs entered the room.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Preston, I apologise for the wait but we wanted to make sure we knew everything before bringing you through."

"Is he ok? I mean, will he be ok?" Lauren stuttered.

"Joe took a serious blow to the head, our scans show no extensive damage, but there is a small bleed."

"Oh god!" Jaime gasped and reached for Joey's hand.

"This sounds worse than it is, please don't panic. If his condition is controlled correctly, he has every chance of making a full recovery." The Doctor paused.

"But?" Dylan looked at him, holding his breath.

"There is a small chance of some memory loss, which is why for now, we have placed Joe into a medically induced coma, to allow his brain time to heal."

"But he'll wake up?" Julia wiped the tears from her cheek and regained her composure as she addressed the Doctor.

"Yes, he will. We won't truly know his mental state until then. It's going to be a waiting game I'm afraid. He also has a few broken bones, but nothing too serious. He may require some physical therapy further down the line."

"Can we see him?" Joey whispered.

"Of course, I'll take you through, please don't be alarmed by all the wires and machines, you will see he has a ventilator but this is only a precaution while he is sedated. Once we bring him round he'll be able to breathe on his own."

The group followed the Doctor in silence through the doors to the emergency room where Joe lay on the far side of the room. His jeans had been cut off and dried blood stained his t shirt.

"Oh Joe!" Lauren fought back tears as she ran over and took his hand. Everyone gathered round the bed except Joey who hung back by the doors. Dylan turned and gestured for him to come over. Joey shook his head.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry, I…I can't." He backed out of the room and bolted down the corridor until he reached the exit. Outside he slid down against the wall and held his head in his hands as his shoulders started to shake his breath became laboured.

"Joey?" Corey rushed over to his friend and knelt down beside him.

"What happened? Is Joe ok?" Panic rushed through his body as Joey tried to catch his breath.

"Doctor said…..his brain…..he'll wake up…..but I…..I can't see him like that."

Corey reached over and put an arm round Joey's shoulders.

"It's ok buddy, I'm here, we're all here and we're going to get through this together."

"Darren?" Joey looked up and blinked through teary eyes.

"They're not here?" Joey shook his head.

"Nothing from either of them. I called Shard's too, they never showed for the meeting."

"What? Then where are they?" Joey asked.

"I wish I knew man, I really do."

Dylan appeared at the door,

"Guys, Joe's stable enough for them to move him to a ward, we won't be able to stay with him there so you really need to come in now if you want to see him."

Joey stood and took a deep breath.

"Sure, I mean, what kind of jackass doesn't stick by his friends right?" He gave a weak smile and followed Dylan and Corey back inside.

Leaving Joey with Walker for a moment, the rest of the group wandered back into the relative's room. Dr Preston stopped in and handed Julia a bag with Joe's belongings inside.

"We need to call his family." She said, looking at the others as she opened the bag to find his phone.

"I'll do it." Julia looked up at Lauren who seemed to have regained her composure.

"Are you sure?"

Lauren nodded, "I can do it, it's fine." She reached for Joe's phone and turned to leave,

"I'll meet you guys outside ok?" This was something she had to do alone, it would be hard enough having to break the news to his family without seeing her friends' faces as she explained everything.

"So, what now?" Jaime looked back at the others.

"Well, let's head back to Brian's, we need to find those two before we do anything else." Meredith suggested.

"I agree, we can call Nick and Matt on the way and get them to meet us there." Said Dylan.

"Ok, you guys take the van, Jaime and I will wait for Lauren and get a cab back." Said Julia.

Joey appeared in the doorway, his eyes red and puffy.

"Um, so…" He kicked at a spot on the floor, making a great effort to stare at his own feet.

Dylan walked over and put an arm round his shoulders, "Come on pal, let's go." He lead Joey out to the van as the others exchanged hugs and parted ways.

Julia and Jaime got coffee and waited for Lauren. Jaime glanced at the door,

"You think she's ok?" She asked. Julia sighed, "I don't think any of us can be ok right now." She reached over and squeezed Jaime's hand as Lauren entered the room.

"How did it go?" Jaime stood and hugged her as Julia passed her a coffee.

"Badly, but what can you expect? They're on their way. I said we'd give them some space to be with Joe. They know how to get to Brian's so I expect we'll see them pretty soon. I also gave the Doctor all our numbers, so if anything changes he'll at least be able to get hold of one of us."

"Good thinking." Julia nodded, "back to Brian's then?" As they stood to leave Lauren took out her phone,

"Lauren there's a Freephone in the hallway for a cab." Jaime said.

"It's not for the cab, I'm ordering pizza." The girls stopped and stared at her.

"Yes, I know, I eat like, ALL THE TIME, but even though we might not feel like it, we have to eat something. The last thing we need is people getting sick. I can't stop you all worrying but I can stop you from starving ok?"

"I love you." Jaime reached over and took Lauren's hand.

"And I love pizza." Julia smiled and as they headed towards the exit she looked back over her shoulder and whispered, "take care Joe."

Lauren had been right. Back at Brian's the group had devoured seven pizzas between them. With everything that had happened no one had really noticed they hadn't eaten since breakfast and now it was close to 8pm. They had tried Brian and Darren's phones repeatedly with no answer for the past hour and everyone was becoming increasingly worried. Joey and Lauren had gone to put Joe's things away to pass the time when Dylan noticed something in the clear plastic bag that didn't seem right.

"What's that?" he pointed to a small dark shape in the bottom of the bag.

Joey reached in and took out a key. It was thick and rusted and definitely something none of them had seen before.

"Why would Joe have an old key? Matt reached over and took the key from Joey.

One by one, they passed it round the room, giving suggestions to what it could be for. It didn't fit any of the doors in the house and Nick pointed out that it looked quite old.

"It kind of looks like those keys we found in the theatre Joey." said Meredith frowning.

Silence fell on the room. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"But I checked the theatre, no one was there when I went to lock up." Shrugged Corey.

"What if you couldn't hear them? Or they couldn't hear you?" Dylan turned to Corey.

"It's possible I guess. Oh shit. You think they're still in there?" Corey's eyes widened as the rest of the group caught on. The theatre would be freezing by now.

"We need to go, now!" Joey bolted for the door and the rest followed.

Huddled in a corner of the basement, Brian rubbed his hands together as his breath made shapes in the air. Darren sat next to him, his knees pulled up to his chest.

"Fuck it's cold man, where the hell are they?" he muttered, his teeth chattering as he blew onto his hands to keep them warm.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here. " Brian looked around the cluttered basement for any sign of another exit. They had tried to ram the door open but it was no use.

"Something's wrong, it has to be. There's no way Walker would leave us down here this long."

Darren nodded in agreement. He had been thinking the same thing for the past few hours but hadn't wanted to say anything as it would just make matters worse.

"Well there's no way out except through that door and since we can't make it budge…"

"We're stuck here." Darren finished his sentence and yawned. He was so tired. He had been trying to keep his eyes open but it was a battle he was losing. Brian glanced at his friend,

"Get some rest man, I'll wake you if I hear anything. It's bad enough being stuck down here, but add a grumpy Darren and it might as well be hell." He smirked as Darren gave him the finger and huddled further into the corner. Within minutes he was asleep. Brian sighed,

"Time for a game of solo eye spy then I guess."


	6. Chapter 6 : I Know You

**Chapter 6 : I Know you**

Brian woke with a start. For a moment he forgot where he was and reached for his bedside lamp only to almost punch a sleeping Darren in the face. As his eyes began to focus, the bleak basement came into view and he groaned.

"Damnit, it wasn't a dream." He had no idea how long he'd slept for, it could have been hours or minutes. As he settled back against the wall he caught the sound of movement nearby. He glanced at Darren, who remained still. Looking up at the door he suddenly realized there was light shining through the keyhole.

"Someone's here." He muttered as he pulled himself up. His legs were stiff from sitting on the cold hard floor and every step made him ache as he climbed the stairs and put his ear to the door. He could hear voices on the other side of the door, they were faint, but they were definitely voices.

Brian turned and called down to Darren. Banging on the door he shouted a loud as he could.

"Hey! Hey, we're in here!"

The voices became louder as footsteps drew nearer and Brian eventually recognized Joey and Meredith amongst those talking.

"Oh thank god, guys get this door open!" he yelled.

Joey ran over to the door where Brian's voice echoed through.

"Guys they're here!" He shouted over to the others who came running over. Joey took the key from his pocket and pushed it into the lock but it wouldn't turn.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" he groaned as he tried to force the lock but it wouldn't move.

"We're gonna have to kick the door down." Said Dylan, "Brian, get back from the door, I'm gonna kick it in." he called.

Brian retreated back down the stairs as he heard the thud of Dylan's shoe against the door. Walking over to Darren he leaned down and gave his friend a nudge.

"Darren, they're here, get up." No response. 'Man, you really were tired' , he thought as he gave him another shake. Still nothing.

"Darren?" Brian knelt down to get a closer look. Darren's face was pale, and he could make out small beads of sweat on his forehead. This didn't look good.

"Dylan! Get that door open NOW!" He bellowed, the urgency in his voice apparent.

"Something's not right." Meredith whispered. Joey looked at Dylan. They had to ram it.

"On three…one…two…THREE!" With an almighty crash the door gave way with Dylan almost flying straight down the stairs.

"Brian? Darren?" Jaime called down, "are you guys ok?"

Brian's voice came from a far corner.

"Guys, get down here. I can't wake Darren!"

"What? No! Not him too." Joey launched past the others and shot down the stairs.

"What happened?" Lauren appeared behind Joey who had pulled Darren upright .

"I don't know, it was getting cold and he looked really tired. I just told him to go to sleep, he seemed fine." Brian ran a hand through his hair and looked at Dylan.

"What did Joey mean, 'Not him too?'"

"I'll tell you in a minute, let's just get him out of here."

"Wait, he's awake!" Joey gave a sigh of relief as Darren's eyes began to open and he mumbled up at him.

Lauren leaned over him and put her hand to his head.

"Guys he's burning up, we need to get him back to the house."

"I'll bring the van round." Said Corey who headed off back up the stairs with Julia and Meredith.

Joey and Dylan helped Darren to his feet, catching him as his knees buckled from under him.

"We're gonna have to pretty much carry him out." Said Dylan.

"I weigh 2 pounds." Darren mumbled.

"Shut up man, let's get you home." Joey smirked.

As they made their way out of the basement and through the theatre, Brian turned to Jaime.

"Why are you in the van? Where's Walker's car?"

Jaime's face flushed as she looked back at Brian, tears forming in her eyes, trying to speak but not finding the right words.

"Jaime?" Brian frowned and stopped dead. "Something happened, what happened?"

Lauren walked over and took Brian's hand.

"Come on, I'll explain on the way."

Walking out to the van, Darren started to come round. The cold air outside hit him like a wall of ice and the burning sensation on his skin started to settle. He climbed into the back and slouched in a heap between Joey and Dylan.

"Hey, how you doing buddy?" Joey eyed him with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." Darren replied, reaching to rub his eyes but not quite finding the strength. His arms felt like lead weights and every motion took so much effort, but he wasn't about to let it show. He'd heard Brian and Lauren talking about Walker. Something wasn't right and he wasn't about to let them molly coddle him out of finding out what was going on. As Corey started the engine, Brian looked over at Lauren,

"Ok, what's going on?"

Lauren hesitated, she could feel her heart beginning to race and a cold sweat washed over her. She cleared her throat and started slowly,

"After we all split up at the theatre, Joe went out to help Dylan unload the equipment remember?"

Brian nodded, "Yeah, right after he locked us in the basement."

Lauren nodded, "Right, well, as I said he was unloading the equipment and there was this car….."

Darren's eyes shot open and he looked straight at Joey.

"Tell me she's not about to say what I think she's about to say?"

"Just, listen, ok?" Joey took a breath and gestured to Lauren to go on. He knew Darren's reaction wasn't going to be great, they all did. This was Joe. They were like brothers.

"So this car came speeding down the road, and Joe didn't see it. "

Brian stared at Lauren, his mouth opened but nothing came out. She didn't need to finish the story, he knew the rest just from looking at their faces.

"Where is he?"

"He's at Rush University." Dylan replied.

"What's wrong with him?" Darren whispered.

"Look, we won't know until later. They're just watching him for now." Joey replied. No one wanted to say it, he knew that and maybe by trying to just reassure the guys they could wait it out until the hospital called.

"What is wrong with him?" Darren's voice rose slightly and he looked directly at Julia, "please Julia, just tell us."

Julia looked from Brian to Darren and realised there was no way they could avoid this.

"I need you to keep calm ok?"

Darren propped himself up on one arm, leaning against Joey for support.

"I need you to tell me." He stared straight at Julia. She avoided Darren's gaze and took a breath.

"Ok, Joe hit his head pretty hard. The Doctors said there is some swelling on his brain which they need to monitor before they can assess what…..if there is any…."

"Turn the van around!" Darren yelled. Everyone jumped at his sudden outburst.

Brian leaned over and put a hand on Darren's shoulder, "Dude, you have to calm down, this is terrible, believe me I know how you're feeling , but there's nothing we can do right now." Darren brushed Brian's hand away and shook his head.

"We have to go to him, I have to see him, he can't be alone, why did you leave him alone?" Darren was muttering as he tried to pull himself up to reach the front of the van.

"Woah there buddy!" Dylan reached and grabbed Darren's shirt to pull him back down.

"It's the fever, he's not thinking straight." Said Jaime as Joey and Dylan held onto a squirming Darren.

"Meredith!" Darren called up to the front of the van where Meredith sat beside Corey. She turned round, forcing a smile on her face.

"Darren, it's going to be ok. Please, just try to stay calm. You're sick, you can't do this right now."

"Meredith you tell Corey to turn this fucking van around right now!" Darren was pushing against Joey's arms which were now wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Oh god, this was a bad idea." Lauren sighed, watching the guys struggle to control Darren.

Brian moved over and sat next to her and Jaime.

"You had to tell us, you know you did. I can't believe we've been sat down there cursing him when…." Brian's voice broke and Jaime grabbed his hand.

"Hey, he'll be ok. We'll be ok." She pulled him into a hug and held on tightly as Brian's shoulders began to shake and she could feel his tears against her skin.

"HE'S MY BEST FUCKING FRIEND! LET GO OF ME!"

"Punch him." Joey whispered to Dylan as he ducked to avoid Darren's elbow colliding with his face.

"What? No!" Dylan hissed back.

"Dude, you gotta knock him out. He's gonna make himself worse or injure someone if we don't do something!"

Dylan considered this for a moment before realizing no one was fighting him anymore. He looked down to see a motionless Darren slumped against the seat.

"Did he just pass out?"

Joey nodded.

Lauren leaned back and sighed, "Oh thank god."


End file.
